THE CONQUEROR'S GRAVE. The warrior's name would be a name abhorrëd; I hear no longer from its brazen portals 181 "Peace!" The blast of war's great organ shakes the skies; LONGFELLOW. CAUTIONS: a. The emphasis on no enables the reader to avoid the verseaccent upon were. b. Avoid the verse-accent on that. c. Hasten on to forehead and avoid on. Avoid the verse-accent on and. d. THE CONQUEROR'S GRAVE. WITHIN this lowly grave a conqueror lies;* And yet the monument proclaims it not, Nor round the sleeper's name hath chisel wrought Ivy and amaranth1 in a graceful sheaf Twined with the laurel's fair, imperial leaf. To the great world unknown, Is graven here, and wild flowers rising round,- Here, in the quiet earth, they laid apart Of gentle womankind, Timidly shrinking from the breath of blame; Nor deem that when the hand that moulders here Alone the battle fought; Through that long strife her constant hope was stayed3 She met the hosts of sorrow with a look That altered not beneath the frown they wore; no more. Her soft hand put aside the assaults of wrath, The fiery shafts of pain, And rent the nets of passion from her path. Her glory is not of this shadowy state, Glory that with the fleeting season dies; How heaven's bright depths with sounding welcomes rung, Pain, scorn, and sorrow bore, The mighty Sufferer, with aspect sweet, Smiled on the timid stranger from his seat; He who, returning glorious from the grave, Dragged Death, disarmed, in chains, a crouching slave. See, as I linger here the sun grows low; Cool airs are murmuring that the night is near. BRYANT. CAUTIONS: This poem is perhaps one of the greatest poems that have come to us from America. It should be read with the greatest care; and its full and true value given to every clause. a. Avoid the verse-accent on within. b. The pause after yet will enable the reader to avoid the at. MEANINGS: 1. Amaranth, a flower that never dies, immortelles. frame. 3. Stayed, placed. 2. Mould, DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 183 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. Died on the shores of lake Bemba, May 4, 1873. Landed at Southampton April 15; buried in Westminster Abbey, April 18, 1874. DROOP, half-mast colours! bow, bare-headed crowds! As this plain coffin o'er the side is slung, To pass by woods of masts and ratlined shrouds, a 1 'Tis the last mile, of many thousands trod With failing strength, but never-failing will, Or if the ache of travel and of toil Would sometimes wring a short sharp cry of pain, 'Twas but to crush it down, and on again! He knew not that the trumpet he had blown, To strike the chains from the Slave's fettered hand. Now, we believe, he knows, sees all is well : How God had stayed his will, and shaped his way, Open the Abbey doors, and bear him in To sleep with king and statesman, chief, and sage, But great by work that brooks no lower wage. He needs no epitaph to guard a name Which men shall prize while worthy work is known; Punch. CAUTIONS: a. Avoid the verse-accent on the, and hasten on to the sense-accent (or emphasis) upon last. b. The same remark applies here: the emphasis falls upon worn. c. Avoid the verse-accent on that; and this is best done by making a pause after not, and then hastening on to trumpet. MEANINGS: 1. Erst, formerly. 2. Liana-hung, hung with lianas. Lianas are long, rope-like creepers, which grow from tree to tree, and make a thick tanglewood of the branches of a tropical forest. 3. Darkling, in the dark. 4. Come of weaver-kin. Livingstone was the son of a weaver, and was himself a weaver, at Blantyre, near Glasgow. A FOREST SCENE. THEY came to where the brushwood ceased, and day This open glen was studded thick with thorns Merlin and Vivian stopped on the slope's brow Which glittering lay all round them, lone and mild, The grass was dry and mossed, and you saw clear Starred the cool turf, and clumps of primroses "Here let us halt,” said Merlin then; and she MATTHEW ARNOLD. HYMN ON THE NATIVITY. The following are a few verses from this hymn, which is considered by some critics to be the finest ode in the language. It was written by John Milton (16081674), when he was only twenty years of age. It is a hymn on the birth of Christ; and Milton's belief was, that, on that event, the heathen deities (to him real beings) which had ruled upon the earth, were driven down below; and that all war and evil ceased for a while upon the earth. The poem is written in "the grand style;" and it will require much practice before it can be read well and justly Nō war or battle's sound, Was heard the world around: The idle1 spear and shield were high up hung; HYMN ON THE NATIVITY. Unstained with hostile blood; 2 The trumpet spake not to the armëd throng; And kings sat still with awful eye, As if they surely knew their sov'reign lord was by. But peaceful was the night, Wherein the Prince of Light His reign of peace upon the earth began: The winds, with wonder whist,* Smoothly the waters kissed, Whispering new joys to the mild Oceän, Who now hath quite forgot to rave, While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmëd wave. The shepherds on the lawn, Or ere the point of dawn, Sat simply chatting5 in a rustic row; Full little thought they then That the mighty Pan Was kindly come to live with them below; Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep, Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep. When such music sweet" Their hearts and ears did greet, As never was by mortal finger strook," Divinely warbled voice Answering the stringed noise,s As all their souls in blissful rapture took: 9 The air, such pleasure loath to lose, With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly close. Súch music as ('tis said)" Before was never made, But when of old the sons of morning sung, While the Creator great His constellations set, And the well-balanced world on hinges hung, And cast the dark foundations deep, And bid the weltering waves their oozy 10 channel keep. At last surrounds their sight A globe of circular light, That with long beams the shamefaced night arrayed; The helmed 11 cherubim, The sworded seraphim, Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed,12 Harping in loud and solemn quire, 13 With unexpressive 13 notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir. |